How to get this portrait-look...

[tschach]

Hi folks,

I just found some images from a photographer, which I really like. Here are some examples:

http://www.agalleryofnudes.com/bilder/regular/2.jpg

http://www.agalleryofnudes.com/bilder/newpic/juni1.jpg


And the following which contains a partly nude image:

http://www.agalleryofnudes.com/bilder/newpic/oct2.jpg


I was talking to this guy, but he is not willing to share the secrets. So I think it's time to asked other people how he could have done this.

I don't want to copy the effect, I just want to understand the way he is doing it...

What I found out is, that the final part might be adding a layer in screen mode. If you take one of this images, duplicate layer and use multiply (the opposite of screen?), you might get an idea how it looks before.

The interesting part is, that the skin looks really soft and clean without loosing the sharpness of the outlines.

As he retouching 20 images in an hour, I'm sure, he is not using the "normal" history-brush way to get back sharpness on the outlines...

Any Ideas or hints?!


Bye, Carsten

[Vikki]

My "guess" is "Diffuse Glow".
BTW, It's not hard to process 20 images in an hour if the originals don't need a lot of work...good lighting, good makeup, etc. really cut down on the processing time.

[Mig]

Actually there's a tutorial on this very site that will teach you what is probably the best way to do this type of thing.
From what I see from the samples, the guy you've been asking - who won't tell - isn't even very good at this type of effect.
It appears to me that he used something akin to the startrek method, where you take the pic, blur it considerably and change the blend mode to screen. Then add a mask and paint away around the eyes, parts of the hair, etc., to restore detail. Then use curves to probably darken it a touch.
Like I said, check the tutorials on this site, look for blended duotone, and go from there.

The attachment shows the original on the left, the manipulated one of the right. I used this pic because it was easy. However, the pic on the left is still far superior because you can actually see the pores on the woman's skin, which, to me, is quite fantastic. The one on the right is pretty glamoured-up and you can no longer see the definition in the skin, which for your purposes is okay since this is popular and probably the outcome you're looking for.

Good Luck,
Mig

[Marc]

Two other Possibilities

Hi,

when I saw these pictures, I remembered two different tutorials on making a clean skin.

Number one can be found in here :
1. With the image in an active layer, hold down the CTRL and ALT keys and
Press the tilde (~) key. That creates as selection based on 50% luminosity.
2. Do a copy and paste. CTRL and C then CTRL and the V keys
That will create a new layer with the 50% data in it.
3. Select that layer and adjust levels to increase the brightness slightly.
4. Select the blur / Gaussian blur tool and set the radius to 6.0
5. Reduce the opacity of the blurred layer to around 43%
6. Now use the erase tool at 100% with a feathered brush (soft edges) to erase the focus points around the
eyes, lips, hairline, etc.
7. Flatten the layers and use the curve tool to improve the richness of the color tones.

The effect is quite interesting, see example

Tutorial Number two is in german only from Wargalla. Roughly translated:
1. copy the picture to a new layer
2. use the filter "white light" on it (with white color)
3. set opacity of this layer to 60% and mode to "hard light"

Hope this helps,
Marc

[Leah]

For comparison (attached) - duplicate layer set to screen, no blurring (some masking over eyes to reduce effect) versus duplicate layer blurred and then set to screen (masking over eyes, lips, edge of face) versus duplicate layer given Diffuse Glow and set to screen (masking over eyes, lips).

On your third image I would guess he's gone for a blur + screen approach - the other two look more like they could have just been achieved with screen alone, maybe plus a little masking in each case - in which event 20 in an hour would not be unlikely. The most important factor is getting the lighting right in the first place when taking the photograph - once you've done that there are any number of ways of accentuating the high-key effect.

[tschach]

Hey folks,

thanks for your support - these are all very interesting ways to make a real glamour shot...


Carsten